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A Cleaner Bay Means Higher Sewage Bills

Posted on: Thursday, 29 September 2005, 06:00 CDT

By Rex Springston

Help is on the way for the Chesapeake Bay, and you may be among those picking up the bill.

New rules endorsed by the State Water Control Board yesterday will force scores of sewage-treatment plants and factories to reduce their discharges of nutrients such as nitrogen.

Normally good things, nutrients at high levels cause the growth of algae that foul the bay and rivers flowing into it.

This summer, an excess of nutrients was blamed for large algae outbreaks in the James and York rivers and for a roughly 100-mile- long "dead zone" of oxygen-poor water in the bay.

To help pay for improving the sewage plants, local sewer rates could increase slightly in some localities and perhaps double in others, said Richmond lawyer Chris Pomeroy. He represents sewage systems in 54 localities, including Richmond and Chesterfield, Hanover and Henrico counties.

"These are the most significant wastewater regulations to be adopted in at least 15 years," Pomeroy said. Residential sewer bills across Virginia average about $20 to $25 a month.

Alan Pollock, the state Department of Environmental Quality's water-quality manager, said state grants will pay up to 75 percent of the costs of the sewage-plant improvements.

For that reason, Pollock said, "we would hope that most communities would not see significant increases in their sewer rates."

The effect on Richmond-area sewer bills was unclear yesterday, in part because the board's action did not require pollution cuts for plants along the James and York rivers.

Those requirements, which the DEQ staff is still studying, are scheduled to be set when the water board meets Nov 21.

State officials described yesterday's action as part of a historic pollution crackdown that also calls for increased efforts to limit the runoff of manure and fertilizer from farm fields.

"We have never attempted anything on this scale in Virginia, the bay watershed, the country and probably the world," said Joseph H. Maroon, director of the state Department of Conservation and Recreation.

Maroon's agency provides grants to farmers to pay part of the cost of anti-pollution work such as fencing cattle out of streams and planting trees along rivers.

Maroon told the board that 30 percent of farms participate in the voluntary cleanup program. To get pollution down enough to clean the bay, Virginia needs 92 percent participation, he said.

Maroon said his agency will need more money and staff to do the work, but he declined in an interview to provide specific numbers.

The rules adopted yesterday set specific limits on nutrient discharges from about 75 major sewage plants and factories in three watersheds -- the Shenandoah-Potomac basin, the Rappahannock River region and the Eastern Shore.

Once the James and York basins are added to the program, more than 120 major plants will be required to meet the limits. The cost to upgrade the plants is estimated at $1.2 billion.

Virginia wants to reduce nitrogen flows by about 24 million pounds a year. Improving the wastewater plants would remove about a third of that 24 million pounds.

Virginia and other bay states pledged in 2000 to cut pollution by enough to remove the bay from the federal list of polluted waters by 2010.

Few experts believe today that Virginia will meet that goal. Asked when the bay will be clean, Assistant Secretary of Natural Resources Russ Baxter said, "I'm not ready to hazard a guess today."

Plants and factories will devise plans for their upgrades by next fall. It could be several years before the improvements are actually in place.

The state plans to set up a program next year in which plants that improve more than they are required can sell "credits" to plants that have trouble meeting their limits.

Jeff Corbin, Virginia deputy director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, a conservation group, said yesterday's action is a "formality" until the cleanups actually begin.

"I keep waiting for that day we can break out into spontaneous applause," he said.

Help for the bay

* More than 120 sewage plants and factories in the bay region will have to be improved at an estimated cost of $1.2 billion in state, local and private dollars.

* People's sewer-service bills will probably rise -- small increases in some places, perhaps a doubling in others -- to pay for the improvements. It is unclear how Richmond-area residents' sewer bills will be affected.

* The state wants 92 percent of farms to participate in programs to reduce pollution that runs off fields. About 30 percent participate now.

Source: Richmond Times - Dispatch

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